The development of structured synthetic materials with unusual electromagnetic properties, so-called metamaterials, promises to provide access to special physical effects of great technological interest. Metamaterials have ...

(Phys.org) —Chemical engineering researchers Wei Fan, Paul Dauenhauer and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst report this week that they've discovered a new chemical process to make p-xylene, an important ...

(Phys.org) —Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered that DNA "linker" strands coax nano-sized rods to line up in way unlike any other spontaneous arrangement of rod-shaped ...

Nanotechnology draws on the fabrication of nanostructures. Scientists have now succeeded in growing a unique carbon structure at the nanoscale that resembles a tiny twirled mustache. Their method might lead the way to the ...

Inspired by the structure of moth eyes, researchers at North Carolina State University have developed nanostructures that limit reflection at the interfaces where two thin films meet, suppressing the "thin-film interference" ...

(Phys.org) —University of Illinois researchers have developed unique approach for the synthesis of highly uniform icosahedral nanoparticles made of platinum. Results showed that the key factors for the shape control include ...

(Phys.org) —In the microscopic world, everything is in motion: atoms and molecules vibrate, proteins fold, even glass is a slow flowing liquid. And during each movement there are interactions between the smallest elements ...

Nanostructure

A nanostructure is an object of intermediate size between molecular and microscopic (micrometer-sized) structures.

In describing nanostructures it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimensions on the nanoscale. Nanotextured surfaces have one dimension on the nanoscale, i.e., only the thickness of the surface of an object is between 0.1 and 100 nm. Nanotubes have two dimensions on the nanoscale, i.e., the diameter of the tube is between 0.1 and 100 nm; its length could be much greater. Finally, spherical nanoparticles have three dimensions on the nanoscale, i.e., the particle is between 0.1 and 100 nm in each spatial dimension. The terms nanoparticles and ultrafine particles (UFP) often are used synonymously although UFP can reach into the micrometre range.